In recent years, a driving support system that uses sensors and/or equipments in a vehicle for collecting a travel condition data of the vehicle and outputs an advice for driving operation for a user based on the collected data is proposed, for example, in Japanese patent document JP-A-2001-256036 (e.g., paragraphs [0025], [0052] etc.)
Also, in recent years, electric vehicles and hybrid vehicles connected to an outlet at home by using a plug for charging the battery are considered as a subject of research and development. While the battery in the vehicle is charged by the electricity provided through the power line, a device outside of the vehicle and a vehicular equipment is connected through a power line communication for data exchange, in a technique disclosed, for example, Japanese patent documents JP-A-2003-23378, and JP-A-2003-23442.
In the technique in the above document (JP-A-2001-256036), the vehicle's travel condition collected by the equipment is used to determine/notify a degree of safeness of the travel condition, and to provide an advice for improving the safety of the travel condition.
Therefore, the user may be able to improve the fuel consumption rate if he/she takes the provided advice and reflects the advice to the driving operation for decreasing the frequency of the abrupt acceleration/deceleration/braking. Further, if the fuel consumption rate is improved, that leads to a favorable condition for the environmental issues such as a global warming due to the reduction of the carbon dioxide exhausted as the exhaust gas from the vehicle.
However, if the advice for the driving operation is provided too frequently, the user may feel it uncomfortable. On the other hand, the frequently-provided advice may be beneficial if the user is, for example, in a physically bad condition and is having a deteriorated condition in terms of attentiveness.
Therefore, in the technique in the above document (JP-A-2001-256036), providing the advice at an appropriate timing was the problem. In particular, the appropriate determination whether the user is having a bad physical condition or a good one was difficult because the appropriate determination should be based on the examination performed at a time when the user is resting. That is, in other words, the user in the vehicle is not resting, thereby making it difficult for appropriately determining the physical condition of the user in an accurate manner.